


Father's Day

by heavymetalbarnes



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Eddie doesn't have a single clue on how to parent, Hungry Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Other, Protective Eddie Brock, Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), So many emotions are gonna happen, Tired Eddie Brock, he tries his best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2019-10-01 03:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17236811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavymetalbarnes/pseuds/heavymetalbarnes
Summary: Eddie couldn't handle himself as a teenager. What exactly made him think he'd be able to handle someone else's teenager?





	1. Grocery Shopping

**Author's Note:**

> this story has been M O N T H S in the making in my head and after finally deciding on making it Eddie and Venom,  
> it's h e r e

Eddie became accustomed to developing tunnel vision as he walked down sunset streets. He talked to himself, the outside pedestrians assumed, as he walked down to turn the corner. The symbiote inside him knew he was conversing with him, and taught Eddie to ignore the disturbed side-eyes and awkward laughs between friends made because of him. He walked with determine strides past closing shops and paused-to-chat winter bundled strangers, reciting his list of things to get with Venom.

 

"So don't let me forget the milk, alright?" Eddie asked, squinting at houses he'd pass by on his usual walks to the store.

 

**_"Got it. Can we get some of those crunchy triangles again? They were very good."_**   Venom rumbled in Eddie's head.

 

Eddie chuckled to himself as he opened the sticker matted door, greeting Mrs. Chen with his usual small talk starters that, like she'd said before, never made sense to her. What the hell did it mean for the weather to change, but not you? She didn't get it, but he paid her good money and company, so she didn't have to understand.

 

Microwaveable mac 'n cheese cups and cherry wrapper ramen blocks stuck out in Venom's tastebud interest, but his protests fell on deaf ears as they walked past the shelf. "We still have two soups at home, you'll be fine," an inspecting Eddie pointed out. "Also, Tasha doesn't trust leaving her mac' and cheese around you anymore."  
 ** _"That was one time, Eddie."_**  
"Yeah, sure." He mumbled, putting back a ten cent higher carton of milk in the freezer.

 

**_"Eddie, look. It's the brown squares. Get one."_** Venom sounded excited, Eddie assumed, at the sight of the clear wrapped brownies in the baked goods aisle. The colored candy sprinkles looked like plastic bits pressed into the soft chocolate and Eddie voiced his disgust in the symbiote's craving.  
"I can't believe you and Tasha actually like these, they're nothin' but pure sugar." He picked up a pack and turned it over, inspecting the sloppily decorated cake squares.

 

**_"Says the one who eats noodles and beer."_** Venom fired back.  
Eddie said nothing as he picked up another package of the brownies and made his way to Mrs. Chen.

 

Leaving the door with the bell jingling behind him, Eddie shook his head at the bag crinkling in his hand. "Can't believe the things I do for you two."  
 ** _"Love you too, Eddie."_**


	2. Home, Sweet Home

When Eddie reached the end of the slim hallway leading to his apartment, he didn't bother reaching in his hoodie's tunnel pocket for his keys. A muffled voice behind the door was layered with a familiar talking voice that his home's walls knew all too well. He opened the door to face the full intensity of the sounds inside his apartment, not bothering to contain the smile that his lips formed at the sight in his "living room": a puddle of neon green liquid beside chips falling out of their bag on the floor, while a body dressed in baggy clothes squatted next to the snack mess. Her hand pressed flat on a paper towel that swiped and sucked up the drink she mourned over.

 

"Can't believe I fuckin' spilled that shit, after I _just_ bought it too." She fumed to herself, she assumed, and turned to gasp at the sight of Eddie over her shoulder. Crumpling the green spotted towel, she rose to stand tall again and dispose of the paper towel. "You're home early, I thought you weren't gonna be home 'til like, eight."  
"Yeah, so did I, but my interview had to cancel mid-way, somethin' about an incident at their job." Eddie answered, hand reaching in the plastic bag with his corner store groceries. He instinctively held out one of the sprinkled brownies he'd gotten to the girl, smiling to himself at her joyous gasp at the food. He watched her pull apart the plastic covering and bite into the pastry as she moved her head along with the music he'd forgotten was playing behind her. As Eddie took in the home around him, he actually took notice of the new things that occupied random spaces that weren't his: wavy hair-ties that were strewn on the small island table with curly blonde hairs tangled on them, a backpack that sat opened on his couch with papers and a ruler sticking out at the mouth, dark shoes that he knew were once brighter than his current view of them (he would know, since he forked out the money to buy them for her), and clothes resting in a wrinkled pile on one of his many chairs in his home.

 

"So I take it you're staying the night again?" Eddie inquired, putting the bag on the counter next to the sink. He went to his cabinets and opened the blue doors, reaching in to grab a small pot to start the water for the "wavy noodles", at Venom's internal request and his quote, not Eddie's.

 

"Yeah," she sighed, "I didn't anticipate on staying, but he said his homeboys invited him out and I wasn't about to stay and babysit him when he got home."

 

Eddie shook his head as he put the water filled pot on a burner and twist the knob. He wouldn't openly admit it to her, but he despised her father. He wasn't a father by any stretch of the imagination, but by the way he found himself becoming something of a parent to her over the years he'd known her father and her, he felt he had a place now to say such a thing. Her father should've been the one to buy her a new backpack before she started her junior year, not Eddie. Her father should've been the one to buy her new shoes when her old pair of her favorites tore a hole at the toes, not Eddie. Her father should be the one to ask her how her day's been and if she made it home safe from her bus stop after school. Not Eddie. But here he was, having to do all the things her father should be doing for her. When they go out in public together to the store or some place that a teen like her deems as "cool" with her friend on weekends, Eddie can't help but feel a sense of guilt when she points at him as she says "her dad". Her dad is a short, dark skinned man who works at a mechanics, not a white man who reports on global issues and has a ink blot living inside him. That wasn't how things were supposed to go for her.

 

But here they were, discussing how upset she was going to be about having to face some guy she liked once in a testing room next week from today and he chuckled to himself as she talked more with her hands than her mouth. This was the kind of dad thing her dad should been experiencing with her right now, not Eddie.

 

But that was _his_ fault. Not Eddie's. And as he listened to her talk a mile a minute while turning his attention back on the rolling boil water, he opened the ramen package next to the stove and dropped in the wavy block.

 

"Wait, so this dude liked you back or the feeling was just one-sided?" Eddie questioned, after getting lost in her story.

 

"No- okay, so like, I liked him first and then my friend Jackie told me that he said that he liked me too." She explained.  
"Uh-huh."  
"So I went up to him and I was like, 'so what's good?' And he was like, 'what do you mean?' So from there, I just went back to Jackie and I got pissed at her because she basically lied to me."  
"Tasha," Eddie laughed, "did it ever occur to you that maybe _he_ was lying to you?"  
She froze for a second. Suddenly, a lightbulb.  
"Oh my god! I never thought about that!" Tasha exclaimed.

 

Eddie laughed at her reaction. His laughter calmed and when it died, he felt a wave of joy. Here he was, watching this blonde-dyed girl talk about something with such a passion that it damn near made Eddie want to cry.

 

Maybe being called "dad" wasn't such a bad thing.


	3. Confidential

Eddie was appreciative of Anne. He never took her kindness for granted, ever, after Venom arrived with his baggage. So he was especially appreciative when he got the green light to come sit on the steps of his once shared home with her, taking occasional sips of the San Francisco wind chilling coffee in his hand in between their topics of discussions.

 

The topic for this round of conversation was brought up by Anne, after she set down her coffee next to her on the cold step. "So", she began, "how's Tasha?"  
Eddie damn near launched himself out of his hunched seat on the step. He chuckled and nodded at her.

 

"She's good, she's good. She was telling me about some boy she was into the other day and was just goin' on and on and on about it." Eddie smiled, shaking his head at the story he remembered.  
Anne laughed at his news. "Yeah, that sounds like a true teenager right there."

 

It grew silent between them, the bell ringing of passing trolleys and rolling tires acting as ambiance to them. Anne had something to ask, but she wasn't sure of how Eddie would like it.

 

**_"She's nervous."_** Venom rumbled.  
Eddie swallowed his question, careful to not blow Venom's cover in front of her. He instead turned to face Anne, raising a quizzical eyebrow at her. "What's on your mind, Anne?"  
She fixed her posture, sitting more upright than before, and sighed.  
"Eddie... where's, uhm- does Tasha have a good relationship with her.. parents?"  
"Anne-"  
"-I know, you said before that she doesn't like talking about it, but she's had to have told you _something_ about them. Right?"

 

Groaning, Eddie cupped his face in his hands and shook his head. "You're putting me in an awkward position here, Anne." Eddie replied, muffled. He dragged his palms down his face and made sure to stare straight ahead as he spilled, nervously, what Tasha made him swear time and time again to never tell another person "so long as you got air in your lungs", as she worded it.

 

"Anne, what I'm about to say is very sensitive information. Don't do any research on them, don't tell her I told you, just- just don't do anything. Okay?"  
"I promise."  
Eddie sighed. "Tasha doesn't talk to her mom much anymore because of.. things."  
Anne furrowed her brows, scooting closer to Eddie.  
"I can't tell you what things, though, she made damn sure that I swore on my life to keep it with me. Her dad, however, is in her life. She stays with him when she's not with me, but he's not... good."

 

"Good how?" Anne inquired.  
"'Good' in the sense of that he doesn't do what I do. He doesn't get her things that she needs for school, like a new backpack or supplies, he doesn't make sure she gets home from her bus stop. He basically just gave up on being a dad, Anne-"  
Eddie felt his throat tighten and burn. The tears glossing his eyes caught the chilled wind, making him blink and roughly wipe at his eyes with his sleeve. He felt a gentle grip on his arm, giving him a silent signal that it was okay for him to feel this way.

 

Sniffling, Eddie checked his watch. 4:29pm in dark, block font told him it was time to go.  
"Hey listen, I'm sorry, but I gotta go and-" Anne stopped him with a wave of her hand.  
"Don't worry about it, Eddie. I'll see you later." She smiled, a sympathetic glint in her eyes.

 

With a nod, Eddie took his cold coffee and began the walk back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello there, reader! I'm so sorry I haven't been updating anything in so long, school and mental shit is just a total dickwad right now. If this chapter isn't exactly,,, good, I'm real sorry about that! It's been literally a month since I've written something that wasn't for school, so I feel like I'm a little awkward at the moment.


	4. Happy Father's Day, I Guess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be posted on my actual father's day, but I got extremely lazy and never did, so let's pretend it's father's day again, yea?

To say Eddie was furious would be a wildly incorrect statement.  

 

He'd already figured Tasha would be home from school, shoes thrown by the door, hair in a coily bun, and hand hidden inside a chip bag; she'd also be giving the television screen her commentary on what flashed onscreen for her viewing entertainment. Eddie knew her routine by now. He shouldn't have to know, but he did. 

He ascended the last flight of stairs to turn into his narrow hall. There was a door that timed its opening almost coincidental to Eddie stepping through to reach his door. There was a brief glimpse into the apartment that showed a dim light and chair sat next to the lamp shining the yellow haze. Then the resident stepped out.  

Eddie's legs developed autonomy. They stood still as the man slid through the opening of his door, closing it with an almost slam of the wood. He fussed with his keys, but caught wind of Eddie with a second's glance.  

"Hey Eddie, how's it goin'?" His voice was gravelly as it attempted to be chipper. Eddie could assume he'd just woken up, and he would find himself to be correct with the indents of lines on his cheek.  

"It's goin' alright, Mando." Eddie was flat in his response. He was the last person he wanted to speak to, let alone see.  

Eddie pulled his keys out of his pocket, thumbing through the metals and tucking the right one between his index and middle. Eddie was going to put the key in the lock and be done with the outside world for today. 

 ** _"Eddie, what are you doing?"_** Venom sounded panicked. The symbiote knew what Eddie was going to do when the keys were put back in his pocket and his legs walked him to Mando's door. He leaned on the frame to keep himself from shifting on his feet. 

"You goin' to work?" Eddie nodded at his clothing, which was a long sleeve and baggy blue jeans.  

"Oh no, not today. I'm goin' out for Father's Day. Wanna come with?" 

Eddie felt a heat crawl over his arms. He shoved his hands in his jacket's pockets, swallowing the tension in his jaw with his saliva.  

Eddie shook his head, scrunching his nose at the request.  

"Nah, man, I'm alright. I'm gonna spend my Father's Day with _your_ daughter. Which I wouldn't be if you were being a fuckin' parent to her-" 

"-She chooses to run off to you." Mando snapped back. 

"No, now that is where you're wrong, Armando."  

Eddie stepped closer to the scowling man, shaking his finger accusingly in his face.  

"She came to me when you weren't being present for her. You're supposed to be her father, man. I'm supposed to be a neighbor, not the one raising her at this point. Do you even know her favorite color?" 

"Blue." Armando sounded sure of himself. 

"Orange." Eddie sighed. "It reminds her of sunsets." 

Mando furrowed his brows, shrugging at Eddie's statement.  

"What's the point of this, Eddie? Do you want me to feel bad? 'Cause it's working, man." 

"Then do something!" Eddie was running a rushed hand through his hair, pulling at his roots as he paced away from Mando. He gestured to his apartment door, eyes wide with angry tears. 

"Mando, she's right in there. She's in a house she's not supposed to be in, with a man who's not even her fuckin' dad. I shouldn't be the one to get a gift today, it should be you. But because you gave up on being a dad to her, I have to pick up your slack." 

Mando was blank in the face while he stared at Eddie's 1404 door. It made Eddie want to drag him into his house with the way he stood there, not moving. He wanted to shake him by his shoulders, scream at him to be a father, a present one, to the little black girl who made Eddie a ceramic mug with a flower painted on the front for Father's Day. A mug, for _Eddie_ , a man not ready to even be a father at this point in his life. 

"Eddie, I'm... not as bad as you think I am. I don't know what she's told you, but I've been caring for her like she was my own for damn near her whole goddamn life." 

"That's not what I've heard at all," Eddie frowned, "Tasha told me you would get so angry at her she'd think you were gonna hurt her. She told me she has to take care of you like you're the child and she's the parent. She told me this like I was a fuckin' diary. I shouldn't know the things I know about you two." 

Eddie brought his keys back out from his pocket. Thumbing the metals again, he found his house key. He wasted no time in getting his door unlocked and ready to slam behind him. He almost went through with his idea. He turned back around to face Mando before he went down the stairs.  

"Don't come near my daughter if you're not gonna try, Armando."  

 

 _Then_ he slammed the door. 


End file.
